1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell assembly, and more particularly a fuel cell assembly including a cell having a solid electrolytic layer, an oxygen electrode attached to one side of the electrolytic layer and opposed to an oxygen-containing gas flow passage, and a fuel electrode attached to the other side of the electrolytic layer and opposed to a fuel flow passage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional fuel cell assembly illustrated in FIG. 17, a cell C has a film or plate type oxygen electrode 2 attached to one side of a plate type solid electrolytic layer 1 and a film or plate type fuel electrode 3 attached to the other side of the electrolytic layer 1, and this cell C is attached with a separator 42 for forming an oxygen-containing gas flow passage 41 with the oxygen electrode 2 therebetween and with a further separator 42 for forming a fuel flow passage 43 with the fuel electrode 3 therebetween.
Then, as illustrated in FIG. 18, a first air feed passage 45 communicating with one of the fuel flow passage 43 and the oxygen-containing gas flow passage 41 and a second air feed passage 46 communicating with the other of the passage 43 and the passage 41 are sectioned from each other via a first partition wall 47. Further, an exhaust passage 48 communicating with the second air feed passage 46 and the first air feed passage 45 are sectioned from each other via a second partition wall 49. And, the cell C is disposed between the first partition wall 47 and the second partition wall 49 and connected with the respective walls 47 and 49 in an airtight manner.
With the above-described conventional construction, many elements such as the cell C and the separators 42 must be assembled one after another to form one integrally assembled construction. Such assembly is more troublesome than separate assembly of one cell and a pair of separators in one combination.
Moreover, since the cell C is subjected to a high temperature as high as 600 to 1,000 degrees in Celsius due to the thermal energy associated with electricity generation, tends to occur thermal expansion in the cell C which force is mostly applied to airtight connecting portions 50 connecting between the cell C and each of the opposed partition walls 47, 49. As a result, tends to occur breakage in the airtight connecting portions 50, cell C, and the partiton walls 47 and 49.
With view to the above-described problems of the prior art, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved fuel cell assembly which construction is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and is free from breakage due to thermal strain.